Knowing THAT God Is Sovereign, Not HOW He Is Sovereign
There is a very important distinction between knowing THAT God is sovereign and understanding HOW God exercises His sovereignty.
Scripture is filled with declarations that God is sovereign over ALL things. That is not the mystery. The mystery is HOW He operates all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).
We may never fully understand HOW God is accomplishing His purpose through wars, violence, the suffering of innocent children, or even the horrifying sacrifices Israel offered to Molech. We may struggle to understand how such evil could possibly serve a greater purpose, especially when God Himself condemns these actions as contrary to His heart.
But our inability to understand HOW God works through evil does not change the fact THAT He is sovereign over it.
We do not have to explain every tragedy, every wicked act, or every painful experience to believe what Scripture repeatedly declares. God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He operates ALL things according to His will (Ephesians 1:11). Creation itself was subjected to futility in expectation of eventual liberation (Romans 8:20–21).
To me, there is no other possibility. If anything exists outside God’s ultimate sovereignty, then something other than God can determine the destiny of His creation. His purpose could be defeated by the very creatures He created.
We may not know HOW God is working through every circumstance, but Scripture leaves me convinced THAT He is working through ALL of them.
God Condescends to Humanity So We Can Understand Him
There is another fundamental truth people need to understand when reading Scripture: When God speaks to human beings, He often condescends to our limited level of understanding so that we can comprehend something about Him and His purpose.
And by condescends, I do not mean that God looks down on humanity with contempt. I mean that the infinite Creator accommodates Himself to the limited understanding of His creatures.
Let me ask you something, Mr. Christian: Is there ever a point at which you acknowledge that God is greater than humanity? Greater than YOU? That He is actually GOD?
Because sometimes, listening to these arguments about independent free will, you would think humanity is sovereign and God is merely responding to whatever His creatures decide.
You have elevated human free will to the position of ultimate authority, as though God must wait for His creatures to determine what happens before He can accomplish His purpose.
But Scripture presents an entirely different picture.
God is invisible! First Timothy 1:17 calls Him the invisible God. John 1:18 declares that no one has ever seen God. And Colossians 1:15 identifies Jesus Christ as the IMAGE of the invisible God.
Why is Christ His image? Because the invisible God reveals Himself to His creatures through His Son!
God, in His fullness, is beyond the ability of finite human beings to see, comprehend, or know independently. We know Him because He chooses to reveal Himself.
And throughout the Old Testament, God communicated with humanity in ways people could understand.
He spoke in human terms. He expressed jealousy, anger, grief, and regret. Scripture even describes God as repenting or changing His mind.
Are we supposed to believe that the One who declares the end from the beginning was suddenly surprised by something His creatures did? That He made a mistake, regretted His plan, and had to figure out what to do next?
Come on!
I believe God was accommodating Himself to humanity’s limited understanding. He was revealing Himself through language, emotions, and interactions familiar to human beings, communicating in ways that would produce the responses He intended.
This does not mean His words were meaningless or His judgments were unreal. It means God’s manner of communicating with humanity should not be confused with the entirety of His eternal nature and purpose.
God is not a frustrated human being in the sky, losing control of His emotions, discovering unexpected events, or desperately adjusting His plans.
He is GOD!
Now consider this when reading Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 19:5, and Jeremiah 32:35, where God condemns Israel’s sacrifice of children to Molech and declares that such things never entered His heart.
Are we seriously supposed to conclude that these horrific events were entirely outside God’s knowledge or predetermined purpose simply because He expressed His condemnation in language humanity could understand?
God was communicating how utterly contrary these practices were to His heart, character, and commandments. He was not admitting that His creatures had accomplished something He never knew or planned!
The Hebrew expression refers to His heart. I believe the point is how far these actions were from what God delights in, not that He was ignorant of their occurrence.
God could genuinely condemn those sacrifices while still having determined that humanity’s experience of such evil would serve His greater purpose.
And this brings us right back to the distinction between THAT and HOW.
We may not fully understand HOW God uses such wickedness to accomplish a greater good. We may not comprehend HOW the experience of evil ultimately produces a greater appreciation of His righteousness, mercy, love, and glory.
But our inability to understand HOW does not give us permission to deny THAT God is sovereign!
The same God who condemned murder predetermined the crucifixion of His own Son (Acts 4:27–28). The same God who commanded Israel to obey knew that the Law would expose sin (Romans 3:20; 5:20). The same God who condemns evil declares that He creates evil (Isaiah 45:7, KJV).
So before we attempt to interpret every expression of God’s anger, grief, jealousy, or regret as though He were merely another human being, perhaps we should first acknowledge who He actually is.
He is the invisible, eternal, all-powerful Creator who operates ALL things according to the counsel of His will.
We should not deny what Scripture reveals about God’s sovereignty simply because we cannot comprehend the ways He accomplishes His purpose.
The mystery is not THAT God is sovereign. The mystery is HOW He operates His sovereignty through everything He has created.
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